Music For Children

Recorded in 1958 and originally issued across two long playing lp’s, these recordings of Schulwerk or ‘elemental music’ performed by the Children of the Italia Conte School, the Children’s Percussion Ensemble and Chorus Of The Children’s Opera Group are simply some of the most beautiful musical compositions I’ve ever heard. ‘Music For Children’ was borne out of Carl Orff’s progressive ideas regarding the educational development of children through ‘active’ learning. Originating in the early 1930’s when Orff and his assistant Gunild Keetman were in charge of musical instruction at Günter Schule in Munich, Orff encouraged pupils to develop a practical understanding of rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, form and the beauty of sound through music, dance and gymnastics. Many of the compositions included within this collection stand testament to his singular educational vision and the way in which his creative use of intuitive learning could transform a classroom into a place of wonder and enchantment. The music is evocative, magically transfigured by the simplest of means with poems, rhymes, games, songs and dances spoken or sung with the barest of musical accompaniment. Wooden xylophones and metal glockenspiels create simple modal ostinatos which hover and shimmer in bewitchingly seductive patterns. Complex rhythmic patterns are stamped or clapped out using non-pitched percussion instruments such as hands, drums, sticks, or bells. The results are startlingly beautiful. Compositions were developed through playful and intuitive experimentation, children were actively encouraged to explore musical possibilities through play and improvisation rather than through any restrictive or formal educational process. This music breathes an innocence out of step with our modern world. Another sublime Trunk release.

All I Have Learned And Forgotten Again

For the past fortnight or so I've been leafing through the pages of this beautifully presented monograph on the renowned Swedish artist Jockum Nordström. Comprising of almost a hundred works, the book is a strange unfolding hinterland of oddly poetic images. Objects, animals and people are painted, drawn and collaged into uncanny, open-ended narratives. There is a peculiar yet appealing discomposure to much of Nordström's work. His images manage to marry a finely tuned sense of draughtsmanship with an oddly naïve charm creating a disconcerting visual landscape populated by owls, stark Modernist architecture, tall ships, and Victorian Dandies. With each successive image, Nordström presents a liminal world of strange frailties where folk art charm sits uneasily next to the peccadilloes of an industrial age, a world where despite the forest of suburban signifiers, the feeling is very much pre electric, otherworldly  and magical. A superb publication.

All I Have Learned And Forgotten Again is published by Hatje Cantz

For more info on Jockum Nordström, see previous posts here, here and here.

Claire Falkenstein

David Lemm

Jurriaan Schrofer [1926–90] : Restless Typographer

Despite a long and prolific career producing a vast array of printed materials for such important clients as Dutch Post, Telephone & Telegraph Service, Forum Magazine and publisher of scientific books Mouton, the name Jurriaan Schrofer is not particularly well known outside a small circle of International typography afficiadios. Hopefully this recently published collection of typographic experiments and constructed letterforms will go some way to raise the status of this sadly neglected but pioneering figure of postwar Dutch design.

Drawn from a personal archive which spans some forty years, this long overdue monograph forms a stunning collection of experimental letterforms which highlights both Schrofer's typographic invention and his fiercely idealistic approach towards design. Many of his designs are formally breathtaking in both execution and intellectual rigour. Schrofer abhorred dogmatism and this book reveals an obsessive ‘bricoleur’ who endlessly experimented and challenged graphic design orthodoxy. Informed by the graphic possibilities of Op Art, many of Schrofer's typographical experiments uncannily predict the digitally constructed typefaces of today. On the surface, his carefully constructed letterforms have the sheen and visual appearance of digital production yet each one was either painstakingly produced by hand or ‘cut’ in the studio from Mecanorma or Letraset rubdown letters. Schrofer would then take these typographical experiments and layer them in complex arrangements using techniques commonly associated with darkroom photography. In this laboratory of letterforms, mathematical precision was tempered by a joyous use of colour and playful inventiveness. Letterforms would become stretched to the edge of legibility, pattern and meaning became fluid and interchangeable. Words were stretched, rotated or looped into endlessly inventive forms of communication creating a new and utterly mesmeric typographic language. Wonderful stuff indeed.

This book reveals a veritable treasure trove of graphic wonder and hopefully it will help introduce Jurriaan Schrofer's work to a much wider and more appreciative audience. Highly recommended.

"Jurriaan Schrofer - Restless Typographer is published by Unit Editions.

Up There - A Spiritual Jazz Mix

A Sound Awareness is delighted to present this beautifully woven collection of esoteric, modal and deep jazz by Gerald Short of Jazzman Records. It's a sublime collection which not only gathers together tracks which have been included as part of the rather fine 'Spiritual Jazz' archival series but it also presents a few overlooked gems that for one reason or another did not manage to be compiled. Enjoy.

 ..... oh, and I probably should mention that Volume Four of the series will be available here around the 28th of March. Don't sleep.

Spiritual Jazz Mix

Slides From The Electric Circus

Sun Environment

Here's an odd one. A weird private press affair of zoned out, stare at the sun, New Age oddness. It's so far off the radar that I'm not really sure if the words 'Sun Environment' printed on the inner label refers to the artist or indeed the title of the track. Enjoy.

La Télévision Dechiquetée Ou L'anti-Crétinisation

Irina Gabiani

Passing Through The Opposite Of What It Approaches, Chapter 25

Big Elettronic Sound

Here's a quirky little thing.  It manages to combine all the things I like in one little dinky seven inches of vinyl - wonky jazz, electronic wizz, strange orchestrations and of course film music. Enjoy. 

Yyaa

Sonic Cineplex

Next weekend, an unusual film and music event entitled Sonic Cineplex will take place in the dark and cavernous railway arches underneath Glasgow.  Featuring a host of musical luminaries such as Jeff Mills and Dieter Moebuis, I'm particularly looking forward to lending an ear and eye to Andy Votel's [Finders Keepers] and Sean Canty's [Demdike Stare] film and tape hiss project Neotantrik. Oh, and if you hear a little oddball jazz and wonky electronic music echoing through the arches - that might just be me spinning an odd record or two.

Mac­Don­ald Edu­ca­tional Ltd

Typiska Arbeten

Down Mix

If you're a regular reader of this blog you've probably worked out I have a 'thing' for oddball film music and it's with great pleasure I present this wonderfully curated mix of rare Italian soundtrack and library records which have been expertly woven together by David Thrussell (head curator of the rather fine Omni Recording Corporation reissue label). Enjoy.

Down Mix

1. Suicidio - Corviria
2. Tema Di Andromeda (titoli) - Mario Migliardi
3. Asymetric - Armando Sciascia
4. Primavera - Pietro Grossi
5. Horizons - Fabio Fabor
6. Toni Ligabue (Titoli) - Armando Trovjaoli
7. Balletto Venusiano - Pietro Grossi
8. Algorithmique - Fabio Fabor
9. Caldo Caldo - Giampiero Boneschi
10. Reagente B - Armando Sciascia
11. Momento Cosmico - Pietro Grossi
12. Esponenziale - Bruno Nicolai
13. A Come Andromeda (seq. 10) - Mario Migliardi
14. Un Tempo Infinito - Ennio Morricone
15. Lamento - Egisto Macchi
16. Preludio No. 6 - Egisto Macchi

The Anti-University